Speech - The Midterm Review - Towards A Policy That Pleases Everybody

It is a great pleasure and honour for me to be here, just next to the outstanding agricultural university of Wageningen, to speak about the political view on future oriented farm management. As most of you will know, the European Commission has accepted the midterm review of the Common Agricultural Policy (or CAP) just two days ago, and I therefore have the pleasure to present to you something that is brand new. In fact, your conference is an ideal place to present our ground-breaking proposal for the first time outside Brussels for two reasons. Firstly, the University of Wageningen, the co organiser of this conference, is one of the most excellent agricultural research institutions. And research is exactly what we need to base our decisions for the future on a factual basis. And secondly, the title of your conference could be as well the title of our future policy: ” farming to please everybody: Feed the world, please the consumer, maintain the environment". As your title clearly indicates, the days are gone when farming decisions could be based on experience and intuition alone. Today, farmers cannot limit themselves any more on the production of commodities as it was in the days when markets were supply driven. Today, farm management is supposed to please everybody. Now, as a politician, I can assure you that it is hardly ever possible to please everybody. However, as a former researcher, I can tell you that research can provide us with the factual basis which we need to get as close as possible to please everybody. (Continues ......)